RÉDNECKGÜPE TIP

Did you know your library card gets you free movies and shows? The Kanopy app connects directly to your local library, no subscription necessary. Going to the library is itself an act of whimsy and a small rebellion against late-stage capitalism. It’s a public good. It’s free and you aren’t forced to buy anything to be there. One of the last great third spaces.

That’s how I rewatched tonight’s film.

If you’re new here, hi, I’m Hannah Kasulka.

An actor, filmmaker, herbalist and I’m always hungry.

I just rewatched The Last Unicorn which is a trippy movie released in 1982 but feels like a 70’s / futuristic fever dream. What even is time, see so trippy!

I love The Last Unicorn, I’ve seen it a few times and love to relish in it when I’m feeling melancholy yet need to inject whimsy into my veins to feel better.

This movie incapsulates what it’s like living as a woman in late stage capitalism completely and is evergreen even though it was made a while ago. The Unicorn, played by Mia Farrow :

iconic^ is turned into a human by a clumsy wizard, a man, and the longer she stays in her human body, the more she loses her connection with being a unicorn. She’s also trying to save all the other unicorns so she’s not the last unicorn. It’s a lot.

Girl is stressed. Also there are a couple of overzealous overlords in this film trying to control all the unicorns and pillage the Earth and I’m not saying anything I’m just saying. This king thinks he’s rounded up all the Unicorns but ney ;)

Full transparency: there is no dinner recipe. I've been trying not to eat late, something my nutritionist and I have been working on, and by the time I sat down with this film it was already past dinnertime. Shoutout my liver. Love you. So instead of a sweet treat, I made a potion. Not technically, but if you wanted to be more whimsical you could think of it as one. And it kind of is. Butterfly pea tea, is one of my favorite herbs as it has many magical health benefits and it’s BLUE! Or Purple! (if you add lemon) basically a potion.

Butterfly pea is not only packed with antioxidants it contains acetylcholine, which is good for your brain, it’s a mood booster, rich in bioflavonoids, butterfly pea can promote healthy hair growth and even reduce greying.

There’s so many great benefits to this flower, not the least of which is it’s vibrant color(s) as it changes color with acidity from blue to purple.

With so much happening in the world, it can be hard to watch the horrors persist, whimsy is not frivolous, it’s survival.

And I think the antidote is not unbridled* hope, but active, “delusional” insistence that a different world is possible.

I have been called naive, for trying to make the world a better, more sustainable place. A lot of folks want to disparage when they see others taking action on things they feel too small to manage. A lot of people feel too overwhelmed to do anything. I get it. Easier than feeling the weight of it. I enjoy bringing my reusable bags to the grocery store, relish really, or carrying a stainless steel straw and think of the turtles while i sip, or boycotting Starbucks(ew like why?? they burn their beans and fund bombs) because it reminds me that I am actively choosing the type of world I want to see.

While I agree that it’s not the consumers sole responsibility to solve climate change and I know one straw doesn’t fix it. I just can’t unknow what I know. Or do what I can, when I can.

Anyways, I made this tea on a Tuesday when I was kind of a mess, and it helped.

Honestly all of this has been making me kind of sad lately. So I’ve been taking action irl and channeling the rest of my angst into creative work. So many self tapes lately, Hallelujah. Also, currently writing a horror feature too that’s unhinged and has been cathartic for me.

Butterfly Pea also promotes better eyesight. If you drink it before bed it's also known to bring on more vivid lucid dreams. You're welcome.

In Thailand where it natively grows, Butterfly Pea flower or , dok anchan, Thais believe that dok anchan has a multitude of healing powers, including improvement of eyesight, hair growth, and the ability to strengthen the immune system.

Some of these widely held beliefs are backed by science; one study suggests that butterfly pea flowers has antiasthmatic qualities. Another finds that the flower is full of helpful antioxidants and can decrease oxidative stress.

3 THINGS : WHIMSY AS RESISTANCE

Build a fairy door or garden. A few years ago visiting friends in Atlanta I stumbled on the Tiny Door Project near the Fox Theatre, where I once saw the Nutcracker as a kid and real (fake) snow fell from a ceiling painted like stars, genuinely one of the most whimsical spots I've ever been, truly how many times can I say whimsical, and someone had installed a tiny door at the base of a wall outside for absolutely no reason except joy. It made me unexplicably happy. You can put a tiny door anywhere. I'm serious. Do it.

Eat fruit straight from a tree. Eve was onto something (and framed, imo). Something about picking fruit with your bare hands and eating it with your barehands is unmatched. It resets your entire nervous system. We are animals. We have gotten so completely become so disconnected from our environment, what we eat, and where it comes from that picking fruit from the tree is a great easy way to plug in. Find a fruit tree. Your neighbor's, a community garden, if you don't have one: plant one. Do you have grass? Put a fruit tree or seed in the ground.

Take a walk without your phone. Barefoot if you can. The Earth has a charge. Our bodies are electric. This is both neuroscience and woo and I am comfortable with that.

if you want to be part of what I’m building : the films, the herbs, the whole thing, come hang. it’s free and I’m just getting going.

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Credits :

The Last Unicorn © 1982 Jensen Farley Pictures. Used for editorial and critical commentary purposes.

Images sourced via Pinterest and Unsplash. Original artists credited where known; if any image is yours please reach out and I'll credit or remove immediately.

I’ve seen it several times now. In IMAX even. Every viewing gives me something new to chew on, literally and figuratively. And watching the reaction to it online has been almost as interesting as the film itself.

The critique I keep hearing:

“It wasn’t scary.” “It wasn’t really a vampire movie.”

And almost every time I hear that, it’s coming from white viewers.

Which kind of proves the movie’s point.

still from Sinners

The Movie

Sinners is set in the Jim Crow South. Twin brothers come home, open a juke joint, and something supernatural starts circling the edges of their community.

Technically yes; there are vampires. There’s blood. There’s horror.

But if that’s all you saw, or wanted more of, I fear you missed the movie.

The vampires aren’t seducing for sport. They’re offering a deal: join us, survive long enough to feel free, transcend the brutality of the world you were born into. Let go of what makes you you.. and live.

That’s not a monster story. That’s a story about assimilation. And the question at its center : is survival worth it if you have to become unrecognizable to yourself ?

Sammie’s music is literal magic. It can summon ancestors, collapse time, bridge the living and the dead. Remmick can’t do that anymore. His assimilation cost him the very thing that made his people’s music sacred. He wants what Sammie has, and he can’t make it himself, so he tries to take it.

Black Culture Gets Extracted.

One of the threads running through Sinners is how Black culture, especially music, gets lifted from its roots, repackaged, and sold back to the world without context or credit. Blues. Juke joints. The specific joy and grief and fury of Black artistry in the American South.

Delta Slim tells Sammie that folk music is the true culture of Black Americans, not the Christianity that was forced on them. The church in that film is painted white. That is not an accident.

And then you get white audiences online saying the film “wasn’t scary enough.”

A story about cultural extraction playing out in real time in the reactions of people who don’t recognize themselves in it.

If the horror didn’t land for you, it’s worth asking: which ghosts were you looking for?

The Devil Promised Them Heaven on Earth

Here’s the part I keep coming back to.

Remmick doesn’t come to the juke joint with hatred. He comes with love. Fellowship. A promise: the human world has already left you for dead; come into my kingdom and we’ll build something better. Join us. We’ll transcend it all together.

Stack believes him.

And I watched that scene and I thought: I have heard this speech before.

Lower egg prices. Lower gas prices. Drain the swamp. Your suffering is real and I am the only one who can fix it. Come into my kingdom and we’ll build heaven here on earth.

And then the eggs cost more. And the gas costs more. And another war starts. And our cousins and brothers and neighbors get loaded onto planes or sent to fight in conflicts that have nothing to do with us and everything to do with keeping a few people’s cash safe.

Different goals. Same results.

Stack tells his twin that the KKK planned the juke joint as a slaughterhouse. Remmick makes it one too. Different goals. Same results. The film says this plainly.

The first people Remmick turns are white, wannabe? KKK members. He wraps white supremacy in the language of love and calls it a new community, promises more cash and people walk toward him.

That’s not a vampire movie. That’s a Tuesday in America.

Trigger Warning.

On Niceness, White Women, and Holding the System Up

There’s a book I’ve been sitting with : White Women: Everything You Already Know About Your Own Racism and How to Do Better by Regina Jackson and Saira Rao. And one of its central arguments is this: white women don’t uphold white supremacy through overt cruelty. They uphold it through hierarchy. Through the quiet calculus of ‘at least it’s not me’ or ‘I’m not as bad as them’.

When a husband or uncle or grandfather says something racist at the table, the white woman who deflects, laughs it off, changes the subject, she’s not neutral. She’s load-bearing. She’s the infrastructure the system runs on.

I grew up in the Bible Belt where ‘niceness’ was almost a religion of its own. You were kind. You were soft. You didn’t make things uncomfortable. You certainly didn’t call anything out directly because that would be rude, and being rude was almost worse than being wrong. ESPECIALLY as a woman.

But niceness isn’t the same as goodness.

Niceness can be camouflage. It can be a way of maintaining order; social order, racial order, patriarchal order, while keeping your hands looking clean.

Niceness is not neutrality. It is a choice. And in a room where harm is happening, choosing comfort over accountability is still a choice.

Sinners plays with this too. The horror in that film isn’t just the vampires at the door. It’s the systems already operating before they arrive. The plantation tokens. The Klan Grand Dragon selling the twins their own land. The violence that was already organized and waiting.

The monsters in the film are primarily the conditions. What Coogler is asking, and what I think makes white audiences uncomfortable, is: what have you been quietly allowing? What have you been too ‘nice’ to name?

Whiteness Is a Construct and the Irish Know It

Why does every white person claim Irish ancestry and wanna celebrate St. Patrick’s Day? This is where people close the tab. That’s fine.

But here’s what’s historically true: whiteness isn’t an ethnicity. It’s a political category. One that was created. Essentially a membership system. And the terms of membership have shifted depending on who was useful.

Irish people weren’t considered white when they first arrived in America. Neither were Italians. The category expanded, absorbing groups that had been outsiders, as long as those groups were willing to stop asking questions. To lock arms with the structure already in power. To look down on the next group and say: at least I’m not them.

Remmick is old enough to remember Celtic paganism. He tells Sammie that the Lord’s Prayer was taught to him by the same men who stole his father’s land. That prayer, that marker of Christian civilization, came from the colonizer.

Ireland knows that story intimately.

The potato famine wasn’t a natural disaster. It was manufactured. Food was being exported out of Ireland while people starved, policy designed and enforced by a colonial government that viewed the Irish as subhuman and the land as a resource to extract.

The famine was a choice made by people with power over people without it.

Which is why, when I watch what’s happening in Gaza: food blocked at the border, aid convoys turned back, children starving in a place with supply routes sitting right there, I don’t see a different situation. I see the same playbook. I see the same logic. The Irish have always recognized it. That’s why Ireland stands with Palestine. Not out of politics. Out of memory.

Colonization doesn’t just take land. It takes the story. It tells a new version of history where the taking was justified. Ireland knows that. Black America knows that. Palestine knows that.

source : Pinterest. The Triskelion (Triple Spiral): A Neolithic symbol famously carved into the entrance stone at Newgrange, Ireland (c. 3200 BCE).

And here is the thing that breaks my heart : my ancestors survived a manufactured famine. They fought, actually fought, suffered, died, for freedom from the very machinery we now watch people cheerfully hand power back to.

People who claim to love ‘freedom’ while clearing a path for fascism.

REDNECK

Most people think ‘Redneck’ is a slur or a badge for the far-right. They’ve forgotten their history. The term was solidified at Blair Mountain in 1921, when 10,000 coal miners rose up against the corporate coal lords who paid them in ‘scrip’, fake money you could only spend at the company store. They tied red bandanas around their necks to identify each other as a multiracial union of brothers fighting for the right to be human.

My great-great-grandfather, a Hutto, was a founding father of NASCAR. That sport didn’t start with corporate sponsors; it started with moonshine and hot-rodding cars to outrun the feds through holler. It was an act of defiance. They would test out their cars by racing each other to the beach in Florida, where Daytona Speedway was born.

It breaks my heart to see what happened to that spirit. As LBJ famously said, ‘If you can convince the lowest white man he’s better than the best colored man, he won’t notice you’re picking his pocket.’ NASCAR fans and ‘freedom’ lovers have forgotten why we started racing in the first place. We’ve traded the red bandana of the uprising for the boots of the establishment. My ancestors didn’t survive the Irish Famine, and my granddaddy didn’t run moonshine, for me to grow up and become a bootlicker.

He’d be rolling over in his grave I bet at how most Nascar fans act now.

The Bible Belt

I grew up in the rural South, where religion doesn’t just stay on Sundays, when you can’t buy beer or wine, eat the chicken place, it’s pervasive, and saturates everything. The Bible was law. White Jesus was the default. Questioning anything was not encouraged.

I went to Sunday school once, often twice growing up as a child. I really got down with what Jesus said, and still follow the message of love one another, treat everyone as equals, especially are some of the favorites.

But something feels strange about the version of Christianity that’s being portrayed today. The People preaching don’t seem to be following what Jesus actually said or his main message. I fear we’ve lost the plot completely.

I don’t remember Jesus saying anything about bombing to bring him back or would be appalled at how amrica is treating “immigrants” today. Also, he definitely wasn’t white. LIke??

Historically, Jesus was a Middle Eastern Jewish man living under Roman occupation. He was radical. He turned over tables. He was explicitly on the side of the poor, the sick, the outsider. He said the kingdom of heaven is within you, he wouldn’t condone this heirarchal hell we’ve created here on Earth.

The version of Christianity that dominates American power structures looks suspiciously aligned with empire. With the people already holding the coin. With the people who would, I suspect, have been on the other side of those turned tables.

Sinners plays with this throughout. The church painted white. The Bible used as a tool of control, slave owners tore certain books out of enslaved people’s Bibles, used the threat of eternal damnation to enforce compliance, weaponized the sacred to cage people. That’s not ancient history. That’s the living context of everything we’re living under America and Capitalism which was built on backs of chattel slavery and the eradication of Indigenous people’s from the land using the Bible as one of it’s greatest tools of oppression.

As for the Bible, there’s Mary Magdalene, described in texts that survived as Jesus’s most trusted disciple, the one he shared sacred knowledge with. She was his closest disciple, had “sacred knowledge” that NO other disciple knew, was the first person to see Jesus after the crucifixion, and wrote a whole gospel that just mmmmm..didn’t make the cut. Meanwhile, The men who decided which books stayed were the same tradition that handed Jesus to Rome.

The folks running the empire today, the people selling gold Bibles with their faces on them, building bunkers with tax or tithe money, sending other people’s children to die in wars, are not leading Christ-centered lives and are sitting at the same tables Jesus himself would’ve flipped. They are following grifters who have colonized Christ’s message the same way colonizers have always operated: take the thing, strip it of its original power, sell it back as control.

Friday the 13th (don’t worry)

I’m writing this on Friday the 13th.

The fear around that date is a remnant of older spiritual traditions being overwritten by Christian authority. The number 13 was sacred in goddess traditions. The number 13 is repeated often in nature. Turtles have 13 scales, or scutes, on their shells. The Fibonacci sequence (which governs how leaves and seeds grow) frequently hits the number 13. Sunflowers and pinecones often have 13 spirals in one direction.There are roughly 365 days in a solar year. If you divide that by the moon’s cycle (about 28 days), you get 13 full moons with one day left over (the "day out of time"). Many ancient and indigenous cultures used 13-month calendars because they were synced to the biological and tidal rhythms of the Earth. Ethiopia still follows a thirteen-month calendar aligned with lunar rhythms. A queen bee’s peak productivity and the colony's natural "rhythm" of expansion often align with these 13 lunar transitions. The average number of menstrual cycles in a year is 13, which is why the "13" was historically tied to the divine feminine before it was labeled "unlucky.” The demonization of 13 was, in many ways, the demonization of the divine feminine, of matriarchal ways of organizing time and the sacred.

Colonization does this constantly. It doesn’t just replace a government. It replaces a cosmology. Sacred becomes superstitious. Ancient becomes primitive or “demonic". The goddess becomes a witch. The healer becomes a threat.

And what gets buried with those traditions is a different model of how to organize society. Not female dominance, which is what men are afraid of, and white people for that matter when folks say #landback, that’s just upside-down patriarchy and it helps no one. A matriarchal approach centers the most vulnerable. It asks: how do we care for our most vulnerable first? It puts that question at the center, not the accumulation of power at the top.

Look at bees. Look at whales. Look at any truly efficient, resilient, adaptive community system on Earth and you find some version of this: the whole depends on the care of its most vulnerable members. That’s not a radical idea. That’s ecology.

I’m an artist and a dreamer, who’s been told I’m idealistic. But I truly believe, and not just because I’m a beekeeper and see there is a better way : The old way, the hierarchy, the extraction, the empire, is crumbling.

A new world is being built. I can feel it even when I can’t always see it.

If Patriarchy were a truly more superior way of being it wouldn’t take so much violence to uphold.

The Ghosts we Ignore

Which brings me back to the pasta.

Food has ghosts too.

Years ago I was visiting family down the road from a cattle farm in Georgia. And if you’ve never heard a mother cow when her calf gets taken away, I don’t have a soft way to say this…it sounds like screaming. Actual screaming that carries across fields.

The calves are taken so the milk can keep flowing. All are slaughtered young and sold as veal. Meanwhile dairy is marketed as pastoral and wholesome, just happy cows on green hills, nothing to see here.

The system depends on you not hearing that sound.

Einstein said energy is neither created nor destroyed, it transforms. Temple Grandin’s work in animal agriculture has documented the stress responses in animals before slaughter. I believe what moves through a living being in its final moments doesn’t just disappear. I think about what we’re ingesting, literally and energetically, when suffering is that concentrated and that denied.

I also think about the workers in those facilities, whom show higher rates of PTSD, the human cost goes hand in hand with the animal one. Everything is inter-connected. The system that harms animals runs on the same logic as the system that harms workers, that harms communities, that harms the land.

I stopped eating most dairy because my doctor and my body told me to. But I’d already stopped being able to not know what I knew.

So my Cajun pasta doesn’t use cream. It uses plant milk mixed with miso broth. Dairy Free cream cheese. Miyoko Schinner’s butter, made from plants by a woman who built her entire empire on the premise that we can do better.

And honestly? It IS better.

That feels like a metaphor for a lot of things.

To top it off and keeping the no cow harmed in the making of tonight’s dinner theme, I used Lion’s Mane mushroom as my steaks.

In herbalism, Lion’s Mane is for the brain : clarity and nerve repair. It’s the perfect “epigenetic” food: healing the mind so we can process the past. To get that “meaty” sear, I use a “Redneck” hack: pressing the mushrooms down with a second heavy cast-iron skillet. Full recipe below.

Culture Is Always a Remix

Cajun food is already a story of migration and collision. French settlers. West African culinary traditions. Indigenous ingredients. People thrown together under brutal circumstances, surviving, and in the process creating something that is joyful in spite of everything.

Sinners puts that on screen. The twins’ juke joint was doomed even without the vampires, a Klan Grand Dragon waiting to burn it down, Chicago described as ‘Mississippi with tall buildings instead of plantations.’ The film draws a direct line to the 1921 Tulsa massacre. It is not being subtle.

My version of this pasta is another remix. Irish, African, Asian, Native American roots. Southern comfort food structure. Dairy-free rebellion. A dish that combines the best of all worlds and within that creates it’s own wave.

Culture moves like that. Even when systems try to freeze it in place.

Hold Your Light

In the post-credits scene, we meet a young Sammie singing ‘This Little Light of Mine.’

My Nana used to sing me that song. She’d hold her hand over a candle flame, cupped around it, protecting it, while singing and faux blowing it out.

Sammie doesn’t become a vampire. He doesn’t submit to the Christianity forced on his community either. He resists both the seduction and the coercion. He just keeps singing his own songs.

Seemingly to say: Just keep making the thing that’s yours. Keep your light. Follow your own path.

They say trauma is written into our DNA, but I believe the light is, too. My history isn’t just a list of things survived; it’s a lineage of people who refused to go dark.

We can’t just bury our heads in the sand and hope the ghosts don’t find us. We look the monster in the face and we still turn toward the sunrise. I think about my great-granny, her skin like parchment, running her hands along the gold-leaf edges of her well-worn Bible. She’d find that verse in Genesis, the one that started everything, and remind me that before there was a world, there was a command:

Let there be light.

That’s the answer I find in the film, and the one I find in my kitchen. You keep making the thing that’s yours. You hold the light, especially when it feels like the shadows are pressing in.

Why Dinner & A Movie

I’m an actor and filmmaker, but I’m also a person who just loves to eat and cook. I started this series because I wanted to bring those worlds together. My own health journey forced me to start cooking from scratch, recreating the flavors I grew up with in Georgia but making them better, cleaner, more intentional, and in a way that actually loves me back.

As a beekeeper and herbalist, I’ve learned that what we put in our bodies matters, and I’m over the idea that wellness is a gated community. Sustainable, healthy living is a luxury that should be afforded to everyone, not just the select few.

Consider this your go-to for everyday eco-friendly hacks, DIY herbalism, recipes, and how I’m navigating this health journey without losing my soul (or my savings). It’s high-value, low-gatekeeping, and more is coming soon.

Pull up a chair.

Sinners isn’t just a vampire movie. The scariest stories are rarely about monsters. They’re about systems. And the ghosts that haunt us longest are the ones we keep pretending aren’t there.

Next week we’re going lighter, talking clean beauty, your skin as your body’s largest organ, and what I actually use on the daily.

But tonight: pasta and a reminder to hold your light.

Thank you for sharing and subscribing. Being a non nepo baby in Hollywood is supported by your likes and shares hehe

— Hannah

If this essay made you feel something, the best way to support it is to share and subscribe.

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THE DINNER

The system runs on the assumption that you won't look. By subscribing, you’re looking. You’re supporting independent, non-nepo artist that flips tables. For less than a coffee, you get the full recipe for these Lion's Mane steaks, my DIY herbalism hacks, and a front-row seat to the RedneckGÜPE lifestyle.

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The full recipe is below the paywall. Subscribers also get the complete Miyoko butter link, brand recommendations for vegan cream cheese, and my notes on where to find / how to prepare lion’s mane mushrooms if you’ve never cooked with them.

The “Sinners” Cajun Pasta with Lion’s Mane Steaks

This recipe is about the sear. To get that high-value “steak” texture out of a mushroom, you have to treat it with respect (and a heavy skillet).

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📍 Table of Contents

🚩 Instagram, all things Meta: especially Mark (This was never cool)

🚩 Toxic Beauty & “Feminine” Products (The Silent Hormone Saboteurs)

🚩 Amazon & Other Billionaire Box Stores

🚩 Doomscrolling & Toxic Culture Norms

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I’m keeping it short today because life’s been… a lot. LA fires, shifting social and political landscapes, and just the general overwhelm of everything. If you’re feeling it too, I see you. Sometimes, it’s about pausing, taking a breath, and finding one small thing to ground us—and for me, today, that’s tea.

i <3 LA

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I’m thrilled to officially announce something I’ve been dreaming about for years: RednéckGÜPE is going global!

We’re kicking off this adventure in none other than Japan—May 2025! YOU could be a part of this exciting, eco-conscious journey. The moment we’ve been waiting for is here!

Applications are NOW OPEN for the first ever RednéckGÜPE E…

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Living out of a suitcase has shaped me in ways I couldn’t have predicted, but one thing has always stayed constant: my passion for creativity and sustainability.

This journey wasn’t just about exploring new places, it was about discovering how people in these places connect with nature, live sustainably, and create meaningful long-lasting communities. From these experiences, I’ve gained invaluable insight and along with my own upbringing and lifelong interest in nature is what sparked the creation of RednéckGÜPE.

And I’ll let you in now on a little secret about one of the most powerful lessons and pillar of health in these places is—-

CONNECTION.

As an actor, I get the opportunity to travel a lot for work and even interacting with fans at CONS is a cool experience. I’ve loved exploring so many places, ways of living and connecting with so many of you in different places.

And as much as I love these moments, I’ve been thinking—what if we could do it on my terms, blending all of my special interests into one?

In Blue Zones, socializing isn’t a luxury, it’s a way of life. A big part of my reasoning behind creating RednéckGÜPE and my original intent was to create a series inspired by this concept that’s all about sustainability, living longer, fuller and healthier lives.

For years, I’ve dreamed of creating a show about eco-friendly living, where cooking, travel, everyday life and sustainability all come together.

My goal remains to create a sustainable lifestyle series that celebrates and showcases easier ways to incorporate these principles into our everyday lives. But here’s the truth: as a multi-hyphenated, non nepo baby, solo creator on the move, I’ve struggled to do it all without the setup, support and crew needed to bring this vision to fruition. The cooking videos, showcasing sustainable travel destinations and more kept getting delayed because life got in the way.

Not anymore.

Looking ahead to 2025, I’m calling on YOU to be a part of this journey. I’m planning IRL meetups, because let’s be honest, staring at screens all day isn’t it, and I want to create something real. Something that connects us to each other and the world we’re trying to protect.

The visison for RednéckGÜPE is so much bigger than me. It’s about building a community of people who want connection and care about people and the planet. It’s my corner of the internet where I share my vision of how we can live more intentionally and sustainably, no matter where we are or where we come from. This isn’t just a platform for posts, it’s a foundation for a larger vision. In a world of AI and endless screen time, we’re craving and missing more than anything : connection.

That’s why as we step into this New Year it’s time to make that dream a reality. But, I need YOUR help. Starting with Japan, I’m taking RednéckGÜPE on the road, creating an immersive Eco-Friendly travel experience with me. An HK-ECO CON if you will that blends my love for sustainability, healthier living, and real connections.

Think of it as a traveling RednéckGÜPE experience.

Japan is the perfect destination to kick of our journey. It’s a country that values sustainability, deep rooted traditions in eco-friendly living, and a respect for nature aligning perfectly with my ethos here. Here’s what to expect -

It’s not just a vacation. It’s a chance to connect IRL, create memories together, and do something real. We’ll explore sustainability through hands-on experiences, like a tea ceremony, soba noodle making, and visiting a place with the purest waters on Earth, bucket list place for me to get a drink: Mt. Fuji! Along the way we’ll learn new ways of living, capture one of a kind memories together and weave eco-conscious living back into our everyday lives upon return.

I know not everyone can make it to Japan. There are very limited spots available and I’ll be carefully curating the perfect group for this trip. Here’s the good news—Substack subscribers get first access to the application. As a thank you for supporting this mission of sustainability and creativity from the start. Spots will fill up fast, so be sure to act quickly! But don’t fret. I aim to pull up on more people/places in 2025, but in the meantime that’s why I created RednéckGÜPE on Substack. This isn’t about followers to me, it’s about building a space where we can all share ideas, inspiration and resources.

By joining this community, you’re helping to support this larger vision. You’re helping sustain this independent artist’s idea for a better and brighter future. For all of us.

If you’re craving real connection and creative expression, join me. Whether it’s here through Substack, online, the JAPAN meetup! or potential future IRL gatherings, there’s space for you here.

I’m calling on the ones who care most, who see the bigger picture, and want to be a part of something expansive.

I’m opening applications TOMORROW for the trip. This is your chance to be a part of the cast and crew of an eco-docuseries, on the road with me, and help build something really special. Let’s go beyond the digital screens and create real life impactful experiences.

Either way. I’m so grateful to have you on this journey with me.

I want this to be an exclusive experience for the people who care the most about me and this project. If you’re excited about being a part of this journey, don’t miss out!

To apply:

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It’s been a whirlwind lately, and I’ve found myself juggling too many thoughts, deadlines, headlines, and ideas. Maybe you’re there too, or know where I’m coming from—the kind of season where everything feels urgent, you have ‘ thirty minutes’ but not a moment to breathe.

This week, I want to talk about slowing down. About giving ourselves permission to savor what’s simple and let go of what feels like too much.

Free Gifts : Focusing on Experiences

While Holiday Gift Guides sound great in theory, I’ve decided to focus on something else: gifts that don’t cost anything but time, creativity, and love. Experiences like a homemade meal, a slow walk with a friend, or even a handwritten note can feel more meaningful than anything wrapped up in paper.

FOR THE PERSON WITH EVERYTHING - A TRIP TO A MUSEUM OR MOVIE

FOR THE PERSON WHO SAVES EVERY TIK TOK RECIPE - A COOKING CLASS OR COOK A HOMEMADE MEAL TOGETHER

FOR THE FASHIONISTA - HELP ORGANIZING HER CLOSET SALE

FOR YOUR FAMILY - PORTRAITS, UNINTERUPTED CONVERSATIONS

FOR YOUR LOVER - A POEM, HANDWRITTEN NOTE, CUSTOM PLAYLIST, CONCERT TICKETS

FOR ANYONE - BOOKS THAT STAY WITH YOU, SHARING A BOOK THAT CHANGED YOUR PERSPECTIVE OR GAVE YOU COMFORT IS LIKE GIVING SOMEONE A PEEK INTO YOUR OWN UNIVERSE.

HOMEMADE GOODS are a great idea in a pinch too. Whether it’s your favorite cookies, spice or tea blends, homemade gifts show love and care.

If you don’t have the time or energy to go diy support small business and makers who prioritize people, quality and sustainability. It’s good for the planet and keeping money in people’s pockets within your community.

Ps. paper saving wrapping tips -

• FUROSHIKI (my favorite) : The art of Japanese Fabric Wrapping - using decorative cloth to wrap gifts has been a part of Japanese culture since the 8th century. This makes gift giving elegant, waste free, and you get an extra bonus gift with the wrapping. One of my favorite gifts I’ve ever received was a book wrapped Furoshiki style in a vintage scarf. I treasure the book and the scarf to this day.

• Reuse / Upcycle Materials - reuse bags/paper/bows from previous years’, I used to make fun of my Nana for this one, but now I’m proud that she was setting a sustainable and budget friendly example, if a bag is in good condition don’t toss it! Also, paper bags from the grocery store can be turned inside out and upcyled to wrap your cherished gift.

• Buy sustainable wrapping paper - If you don’t want to do all that and still want the look of traditional wrapping paper companies are getting cooler and smarter and make sustainable versions of your old favorites. I added them to this little guide here.

MY HOLIDAY WISHLIST

• a moment to reflect and connect

• a clean slate

• more opportunities to share stories and such here and hopefully irl

What are your favorite “free” gifts? Let me know in the comments. I’d love to tap in.

SLOW SUNDAYS : Beans and Clean Slates

One of my go to slow meals that I usually make every Sunday is a simple pot of beans. There’s something meditative about the whole process : soaking them and setting aside the night before, showing them who’s boss on a high boil for a bit before simmering them low and slow, for hours, all while seasoning them to perfection. If you’ve never cooked beans from scratch this might be your sign to start. (I’ll include my favorite no-fail method at the end of this post).

Sundays are like a reset for me. Despite what I did or didn’t do the week prior I have Sunday to start over. As we slow down this season, on the cusp of a new year, I’m allowing myself to simmer also. Take things slow.

Cooking these beans is a fail proof way for me to pour into myself and take some time to reflect and set myself up for success this upcoming week.

Fresh sheets. Soaking stains out of clothes that were worn well the week prior.

All of these things all my mind to melt and slowly priorities come into focus.

The picture gets a bit clearer. And the smoke clears.

Take this as a reminder to wash your sheets. Do it once a week. Not because I or “they” say so but just as a little small something to relish in for your future self.

Sustainable living for me is about taking things slower. Not necessarily needing things NOW. Planting seeds for something to take it’s time as nature intended.

On the topic of clean, slow, and natural. Swapping out the store bought big box stuff ofr more natural cleaners has been an obsession for me once finding out how the regular guys are known carcinogens, banned in places like Japan, and hormone disrupters. I went on a mission to cut out any known disrupters to healing my hormone health and this was a no brainer one.

They’re gentle on the planet, suprisingly effective, and you can even easily make them at home. For instance, instead of bleach, I’ve been using a DIY citrus vinegar mix that leaves everything sparkling, smelling great-without the headache, or fumes.

Subscribers will get my recipe below too as a special thank you.

This is part of my end-of-the-year clean slate ritual : cleaning out the old to welcome in the new.

Naturally.

Looking Ahead

As we move more and more towards the Gregorian New Year, I’m committing now to investing more energy here, on Substack. IG has grown dull and filtered. My aim is to create a space that feels authentic, honest, and connected. A place for us to explore ideas, share solutions, make community, and maybe even have a couple laughs despite the chaos of it all.

Thanks for being here with me. I appreciate your patience. Despite not being super active, I was thinking of you. If you ever felt good out of nowhere, that was me.

I see this space as more than a platform, but a conversation, and place to connect.

Sending you all a lot of slow Sunday magic,

Hannah

BEAN RECIPE : (The Rancho Gordo Method)

1. Check the beans for debris, and rinse in several changes of water. (Soak Overnight)

2. Saute aromatic vegetables in olive oil.(onion, garlic)

3. Add the dried beans and enough liquid to cover by about 2 inches.

4. Bring the pot to a rapid boil for 10 to 15 minutes. (show them who’s boss)

5. Lower the heat to a gentle simmer until the beans are done, between 1 hour and 3 hours. If the bean-cooking water starts to get low, add hot water.

6. Salt when the beans are just starting to turn soft.

Hannah’s Citrus All Purpose Cleaner

This all natural cleaner is easy to make, eco-friendly, and perfect fora. fresh start to the New Year. It works wonders on counters, glass and more-without toxic residues.

Subscribe now

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Hope this finds you well and well hydrated! Today’s RédneckGÜPE scoop is all about water inspired by a subscriber’s question about my skincare routine. I used to smear on serums and definitely am still a skincare snob and will share some of my favorite eco-friendly and safer swaps for y’all below. BUT—

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Something I’m learning about my brain and being hyper-sensitive/neurospicy is that it sometimes takes me way more effort to do things that a neurotypical brain might not struggle with as much. There’s some science to this for sure, albeit they haven’t studied this much AT ALL, especially in women. So, for now I’m in a walking, talking science experiment with myself and everyone I encounter.

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1. drink coffee - I KNOW! I was once a “don’t talk to me before I’ve had my coffee” person but after experiencing adrenal fatigue and burnout I found it in my best interest to cut out coffee and caffeine overall from my diet. I still like the smell and taste of a latte and will do decaf every now and then (which still gets me geeked, especially now with a …

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According to SensitivityResearch.com, sensitivity consists of two key components:

1) The perception ofsensory input from the environment such as sound, smell, taste, touch.

2) The cognitive processing of the perceived information about the environment, such as thinking deeply about and reflecting on experiences.

These components align with the framework developed by Dr. Elaine Aron, a pioneer in sensitivity research who coined the term highly sensitive person and what is known as sensory processing sensitivity. Aron introduced the "DOES" acronym to outline the characteristics of sensitivity:

Depth of Processing, Overstimulation, Emotional Reactivity & Empathy, and Sensing the Subtle.

I relate to all of these. And am always sensing the subtle.

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Hey gang, ogs, newbies, nephews, friends, fans, stans, lovers & haters alike….

Everyone is welcome here. Tell me who you are & what brought you here in the comments if you please.

Hey y’all! I'm Hannah Kasulka, and I'm thrilled to have you here at RédneckGÜPE. Whether you're an eco-conscious newbie or a seasoned wellness enthusiast, you're in the right …

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